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Millennials now shape the largest working and consumer population in the US, meaning that more strategic decisions and expectations are going to be set around them in 2017.

Tailoring your goods and services according to the tastes and preferences of generation Y is no longer a matter of choice, but a necessity to remain healthy in the market. Any successful brand initiative capable of driving loyalty always comes from deep understanding of the customer base - their needs, interests, and culture.

Personalization is among the approaches that should be on your priority list, but today, this means much more than just a personal greeting embedded in an email. Later in this issue, Emma Taylor argues that millennials are driven by self-branding and communication, and explains why providing the personal touch will drive their interest in a product.

The interest in self-branding, though, is complex. Organizations should not create profiles of millennials based solely on the narcissists on social media, even though they may be easy to find. They do not represent the majority of millennials, and there are many negative myths to dispel, with 2016 being a particularly dispiriting year for generational relations. Terms like ‘snowflake’ have entered the common vernacular as an insult for young people who disagree with their predecessors, and there are fences

to be mended. Millennials are not as materialistic and selfish as you might believe, with surveys showing that they place a higher value on materialism than the generations before them, and companies must also start to embrace such qualities in both their marketing strategies and in their workforce.

Millennials make valuable additions to any team, and they need to be seen as a force that drives economic growth and as such their needs should be taken into consideration. Generation Y is as productive and hardworking as the baby boomers, but as is the case with all generations, they are different.

The sooner companies acknowledge the importance of collaborating with generation Y and stop turning them away, the sooner they will succeed in their brand goals and business strategy.

As always, if you have any comments or would like to submit an article, please don't hesitate to contact me at
anastasia@theiegroup.com